Introduction
We created this site with the hope of expanding our family research. In the process, we began transcribing historical material about Port Hope and Hope Township (now the Municipality of Port Hope). We hope you find something of value in these 300+ pages, and, should you have something you can share...!
In 2017, the Ontario Genealogical Society (OGS) suggested a partnership, ensuring this site's future free online presence. Click the Ontario Ancestors logo on the right to visit their website.
Barbara Kyle & Peter Bolton
Updates
- 27 July 2026: Index: Record of Deaths, United Counties of Northumberland and Durham, 1870-1873, courtesy of Trent University Archives
- 27 July 2026: The Port Hope Cenotaph
- 26 July 2026: The complete list of the Case Records (1914-1916) for Northumberland-Durham Counties, courtesy Trent University Archives
- 19 July 2026: The complete list of the Calendar of Prisoners: Cobourg Jail (1846-1908) for Northumberland-Durham Counties, courtesy Trent University Archives
- 18 July 2026: The complete list of inquests for Northumberland-Durham Counties for 1832-1914, courtesy Trent University Archives
- 04 July 2026: A collection of local business directories
- 29 June 2026: Updates on the Robert Francis Duck/Mary Ann Ritchie Bible entry
Help!
I am hoping someone will provide a lead to the Canada General Service Medal (hover over the sample on the right to enlarge) received by my great-grandfather,
Henry Skitch, a bugler with the 46th East Durham Battalion in the 1866 Fenian raids. His name is inscribed on the medal's rim. An incedibly long shot, but if I don't try...!
Peter Bolton
pjbue@hotmail.com
Families
The first section below lists our families' lineages, whilst the second is there for you to share information about your ancestors who may have lived in the area.
To display a page, click or tap the 
icon.
Our families
We are hoping that relatives will browse through these family pages, recognize a connection, and get in touch!
- Bolton, Gray, Powell, Thomas (Buckinghamshire/Middlesex)
- Skitch, Peardon, Bailey, Harris (Cornwall/Devon)
- Nicholas (Yorkshire)
- Holloway (England)
- Kyle, Carse, Oliver, White (Northumberland, England)
- Currie (Argyll, Scotland)
- Monaghan, Mills, Beatty, McCleary, Campbell (Ireland)
- Frederick, Rush (Loyalists from New Jersey)
- Greenleaf (Bergen Co., New Jersey)
- Marshall, O'Connell (Quebec)
Your families
A list of the local surnames being researched
A collection of local family histories received
Port Hope and Hope Township resource materials
This section provides links to information about Port Hope and Hope Township. Before manually exploring the various sections, try using the following tools.
Search the website
1. Search box
Spelling, especially with surnames, can vary considerably on the documents, so you may need to do some manual searching.
Note There may be some pages that this free version does not search.
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2. Categorized index
This link provides you with a categorized index of all of the webpages on this site.
Census
The following census (and related) materials are available for online searching:
- Crown Deeds of Hope Township
- Elias Smith's 1799 Hope Township report
- Augustus Jones' 1799 Hope Township report
- 1801-1806 Port Hope/Hope Township Oaths of Allegiance
- 1802-1807, 1842-1847 Hope Township tax assessment rolls
- 1803-1841, 1850 Hope Township census indexes
- 1847, 1913 Port Hope assessment rolls
- 1851-1931 Port Hope/Hope Township census returns
- 1920 Hope Township voters list
- 2008 Port Hope/Hope Township assessment rolls
Vital statistics
An index of 36,000+ local births, marriages, and deaths, as reported in the 1832-2009 Port Hope newspapers.
152 Port Hope/Hope Township marriages (1804-1854) from Reid's Marriage Notices of Ontario, Wilson's Ontario Marriage Notices, & Marriage Bonds in Ontario.
133 baptisms (1854-1884) from Our Lady of Mercy Roman Catholic Church registers
The entire BMD (1853-1920) image set for the Church online has not been indexed. First you will need to open a free account with the LDS, at which point the above link will work.
148 baptisms (1875-1914) from the Garden Hill Presbyterian Church register
Port Hope/Hope Township extractions from Trent University Archive (#83-016), beginning with this listing of 273 births (1869-1872) from the United Counties of Northumberland and Durham Vital Statistics fonds and transcribed through the kindness of Archivist Bernadine Dodge.
238 Port Hope/Hope Township marriages (1869-1872) from the United Counties of Northumberland and Durham Vital Statistics fonds (#83-016). Included are several marriages in the 1825-1848 range.
Extracts from the United Counties of Northumberland and Durham Vital Statistics Additions fonds 1838-1855 (#84-004): baptismal records; marriage lists; and burial lists. The transcription maintains the original spelling, except where known errors have been corrected, so it would be advisable to manually check the database, in addition to using the search engine.
142 funeral notices from 1861-1916
Index: Record of Deaths, United Counties of Northumberland and Durham, 1870-1873, courtesy of Trent University Archives (#83-016/002. There is no indication of where in the Counties the deaths took place.
260 Port Hope/Hope Township inquests from the United Counties of Northumberland and Durham Court Records fonds 1832-1914 (#84-020). This transcription also maintains much of the original spelling, so you should manually search the database.
Examples of the inquest procedure are shown for Robert Best, who died of exposure in the northern section of Hope Township in 1867, and for James McCabe, a Kingston Penitentiary escapee shot in Port Hope by Constable William Rankin in 1883.
Vital statistics recorded in family Bibles
495 local emigrants, mostly to the United States (1889)
CemSearch—an online database of 442,000+ interments. Information is also provided about local cemeteries.
A transcription of the original burial records for Union & St. John's Anglican cemeteries (1863-1964).
Elizabeth Hancocks, of Generation Press, has given permission to list the Port Hope/Hope Township probate entries from Surrogate Court Index of Ontario (1859-1900) Volume 4, Northumberland and Durham Counties.
An index of 1,400+ probates (1821-1997) of area residents
Military
Sketch by Kathryn McHolm (2022)
WWII RCAF veteran and author George Sweanor's Military Contributions of a Small Town, honouring over 2,200 Port Hopers who have served in our nation's conflicts
Booklet prepared for the 1973 Annual Meeting of the Midland Regiment Association in Port Hope. Many local members are listed, as well as a history of the Regiment.
Over the past thirty years, Gerry Collette has gathered information on artillery used in war presented to towns from London to Kingston for use as memorials including the two pieces in front of the Town Hall.
Conflicts prior to the two world wars
1st Regiment of the Durham Militia (15 Dec 1837)
1st-6th Durham Battalions of the Militia of Canada (1847)
1st Battalion of the Durham Regiment of Militia (1856)
The Prince of Wales' Canadian Dragoons (c1857), an article by Neil Dukas
Royal Hospital Chelsea out-pensioners in the Toronto District (1859)
Port Hope Light Infantry Volunteer Company (01 May 1866)
Photograph of the 46th Battalion band at the Commons, southeast of the viaduct (1869)
Photograph of the Fenian Raid veterans of the 46th Battalion of Port Hope (c1870)
With the Midland Battn. during the North West Rebellion of 1885—William E. Young's personal diary
A reprint of the 1915 Fenian Raid veterans' banquet from the 15 Nov 1935 Evening Guide
World War I
Officers of the 136th Durham Overseas Battalion (15 May 1916)
Decisions of the Appeal Tribunal in Port Hope and Hope Township cases (25 Jan 1918)
Hope Township WWI soldiers (24 Dec 1918)
Book of Remembrance: Local Participants in the Great War (1914-1918)
This transcription of the original 1919 book (only two copies were made) includes the photographs on permanent display at the Town Hall.
200 letters written at the Front and published in the local newspaper. A number of these letters are included in the Port Hope Archives' 2007 reprint of the Book of Remembrance.
Library and Archives Canada's digitization of 620,000+ Canadian Expeditionary Force WWI personnel service files
Library and Archives Canada's digitization of the images from the Circumstances of Death Registers for World War I soldiers. The records for Sims-Z have not survived.
The Port Hope Cenotaph, a town's memorial to its citizens who gave their lives in the Wars
World War II and the Korean War
Biographies and photographs of the WWII and Korean War soldiers whose names are inscribed on the Port Hope Cenotaph
Service Files of the Second World War - War Dead, 1939-1947 at Library and Archives Canada
Photographs of some of Port Hope's WWII veterans, published in the 11 May 1945 Evening Guide
The Farmerettes: young women, 16 years of age and older, assisted in all aspects of farm work, replacing the labour of men lost to military service.
Pushing the Boundaries: Canadian Women’s Experiences in World War II
The late Susan Rafuse granted permission to present her 2004 Master of Arts thesis. In her words:
This thesis contextualizes the use of oral narratives with the academic and popular literature written during World War II and since 1945. The work focuses upon the experiences of various [local] Canadian women during the war. The thesis illustrates how the circumstances of the war provided many women with new found opportunities which were created from the disruption and loosening of numerous social conventions which defined the gender order.
Further information on the local women presented in the thesis can be found here.
The Seven-Year Hitch, personal wartime expriences by Dick Holmes
Royal Canadian Legion Branch 30
A History of the Port Hope & District Pipes and Drums (1958-1987), by John A. Elliot
Businesses
A transcription of Josiah Haskill's whiskey ledger for January-April 1809
Port Hope breweries (c1817-1911), compiled by Doug Mannen
A collection of local directories (1856-1944)
Port Hope hotels and their owners/operators over the years
William Cooper's detailed history of the local papers (1988)
Port Hope's daguerreotypists, ambrotypists, and photographers in the 1850s-1940s (a useful aid for dating ancestral studio portraits)
Churches
The local church was the social hub of the community, providing a regular opportunity for families to come together for worship and special events.
Queen Elizabeth's Royal visit to St. Mark's Church (1959), a souvenir photo booklet
Communities
Port Hope Historical Sketches (Illustrated), by W. Arnot Craick (1901)
Excerpts from the "Grapevine", by Pearl Wilson
History of Elizabethville, by Vivian Quantrill
History of Perrytown, by Edith Carruthers
History of Port Britain, with an 1860 map, by Harold Reeve (1937)
And a Christmas Walk Down Walton Street (1959), by Pat Bryan
Canton Church: A brief history of the church, the community, and its people,. A previously-unpublished history by Margaret Hagerman Pollard Langdon (1982), courtesy of Patricia Davidson.
Education
Items related to the history of Port Hope High School (1891-1990)
Hope Township School Section student Registers (1892, 1893, 1896, 1897)
Morrish SS#5: A history by Marian Marvin, a teacher at the school in the 1930s
Dr. L.B. Powers Public School (1925-1975): a commemorative booklet
Beech Hill Tree Planting Ceremony (19 May 2002), connected to Beech Hill SS#15
Letters, diaries, logs, and books
Written communication, dating from 1819, penned by residents of the Port Hope area, including the 1890 log of Sylvan Glen Camp
Municipal
Tax assessment rolls provide a property's address, legal description, and year of building construction. With this description (and some patience!), one can search the history of a property online.
Port Hope in 1834, with map
By-Laws of the newly-formed Board of Police (1834)
Early Council: the Chief Magistrates/Mayors of Port Hope from 1834 to the present day (a work in progress)
Port Hope harbour: an 1831 letter to the editor of the Telegram; Fleming's 1846 projected harbour plan; and Tate's 1854 plan for the proposed Grand Trunk Railway
United Counties of Northumberland and Durham Court Records fonds (#84-020): Indictments & Case Records (1838-1927). These 124 Port Hope/Hope Township entries cover the 1914-1916 period.
Click here to view the entire 1914-1916 file.
United Counties of Northumberland and Durham Court Records fonds (#84-020): Calendar of Prisoners: Cobourg Jail (1846-1908). These 25 Port Hope/Hope Township entries cover the 1901-1908 period, when residences were listed. The entire file is also presented for viewing.
Port Hope Fire Brigade members (1891), with some history of the Brigade
Insurance Plan of Port Hope (1901; revised 1904)
Charles Edward Goad was a noted cartographer and civil engineer, noted for his insurance surveys of cities in Canada and elsewhere. Fire insurance companies needed to know in detail the nature and size of buildings, width of streets, construction, building materials and the proximity of fire services and water supplies in order to estimate appropriate premiums. These and like maps are now referred to as Goad maps (Wikipedia).
A brief history of the Port Hope Public Library, from a 1960 Evening Guide article
Highlights of the History of the Port Hope Hospital (1911-1963)
1920 Hope Township Voters' List, courtesy of the late Don Workman
A list of Hope Township Reeves (1850-2000)
Social and fraternal organizations
Subscription fundraising pamphlet for the local YMCA (1897)
Souvenir booklet produced for the 1901 Port Hope Old Boys Reunion, with thanks to Kit Kennard and the Port Hope Archives
The Durham Lodge, No. 78, IOOF annual report, year ending 31 Dec 1907
Ten community plays, performed by Port Hope citizens (1908-1933)
Local I.O.O.F. Decoration Day services (1918, 1921, 1923, 1926, and 1939)
Miscellaneous historical
Louis Bertolotto of 1830s London, England, flea circus fame, buried in Port Hope's Union Cemetery
A March 2000 inquiry into the frequency of the number 13 in Port Hope house addresses by noted Canadian medical author, Robert E. Popham. Read more about the investigation in the 13 Oct 2000 Evening Guide.
Additional sources of information
The Port Hope Archives, located in the refurbished former County Registry Office at the foot of Walton Street, is closed indefinitely, pending amalgamation with the Northumberland County Archives & Museum (NCAM) at its new facility.
The Port Hope Public Library has a number of resources, including microfilms of the available newspapers. The Ancestry (Library Edition) programme can also be accessed at the library. It is recommended that you reserve the microfilm reader in advance of your visit.
An extensive collection of photos and information gathered by the late local historian, Cal Clayton.
Sites, including the Upper Canada Land Petitions, that we have found useful for research.
Adanac Military Cemetery,
near Combles, France
Anything we have found to date is included in these pages. Happy searching!
Barbara Kyle & Peter Bolton, UE
Port Hope, Ontario, Canada
pjbue@hotmail.com
Your help is appreciated
In partnering with us, the Ontario Genealogical Society assumed our costs of operating this site, as it has done with other sites that it feels should continue to exist when the original owners can no longer maintain them.
As is the case with all charitable organizations, it relies upon donations to help defray increasing costs. To help, please click on the logo above. Thank you!
Acknowledgement
in France (c1916)
Website structural development by Lee R. Batchelor
Technical Writer - Port Hope, Ontario
acre97@outlook.com
Dedicated to the memory of my grandfather, Captain Lawrence Robb Batchelor, 17th Duke of York’s Canadian Hussars, who courageously fought at and survived the Battles of the Somme, Vimy Ridge, and Passchendaele. Did he spend a few moments with some of the Port Hope boys before engaging in one of those battles? I would like to think so.
Material provided is for personal use only and not to be used for profit.
Copyright © 2000-2026 PJBolton